A critical evaluation of the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and the Mediterranean MPA network, two years ahead of its deadline

The marine conservation strategy focused on the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) has been adopted widely in the Mediterranean, in line with the main international conservation conventions and agreements. Of particular relevance is the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, where signature countries agreed to protect and effectively manage 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020. The convention also specifies a number of qualitative elements that MPAs should encompass in order to be effective. But as 2020 approaches, this objective is far from being achieved and the deadline is necessitating a pace of planning, declaration, management and evaluation of the Mediterranean network of MPAs that is unattainable for most of the Southeast Mediterranean riparian states. The Aichi target 11 objectives encompass countries with remarkably different economical, historical and cultural backgrounds and varying degrees of technical capacity and political stability. Here we explore how the area-based conservation policy at both the national and international level is evolving in the Mediterranean in relation to the Aichi target 11 objectives. We evidence strong shortcomings in the Mediterranean MPAs highlight potential risks derived from conservation policy failure, and propose alternatives towards effective conservation. We suggest that the prevailing area-based strategy in the Mediterranean should be substituted by a procedure that is not time-limited and that is based on environmental and social sciences, supported by marine spatial planning and balancing the scientific and socioeconomic drivers of change in a specific national or sub-regional context.